Blog Archives
11th Airborne Medic
Combat Medic pin
Leaving out all the bloody and boring bits, being an 11th Airborne Medic wasn’t all that bad ___ by: Ray Sweet, Medical Detachment/ 152nd Airborne Anti Aircraft Battalion/ 11th Airborne Division
Starting late 1945 and leaving out the bloody and boring bits, being and 11th Airborne Medic wasn’t all that bad. The officers handled medics with silk gloves because they knew from who cometh their future immune booster injections as ordered by the higher command.
Medics ate better than most. The cooks all knew who had the 190-proof alcohol to put in that lousy canned grapefruit juice.
Airborne Medic
They never had bed checks, curfews and all that other crap (like standing guard over a useless pile of junk that no one in their right mind would ever dream of stealing.) They had a good life.
Sergeants were never a bother. They all knew their battery could always stand for a short arm inspection. It was actually quite nice to be a medic. If the captain said trooper Jones must do something yucky and a medic said he was not able, trooper Jones didn’t do it.
Playing cards with the geishas while on pro station duty was rather pleasant. It was a fun way for them to meet a lot of friendly girls.
When, as a courier transporting drugs from base hospitals to battalion, they had a rail care just like a general.
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Military Medic Humor –
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Corona Shortages –
Contrary to popular belief, duct tape does NOT fix ALL problems !!!!
Duct tape toilet paper
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Farewell Salutes –
Bob Bechtold – Martinsville, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Sgt. # 194GIF/ Medical Tech, 1/17th Airborne, Bronze Star
Thomas G. Delaney – Hartford, CT; US Army, Vietnam, 173rd A/B, 10th Special Forces A/B Group, Major (Ret. 20 y.)
THANK YOU
William Frankland (108) – Battle, England; Royal Army Medical Corps, WWII, CBI, POW, doctor/researcher
Richard Griffin – Franklin, NH; US Army, Vietnam, 82nd Airborne Division
Douglas L. Hickok – Norman Air Force Base, OK; US Army, Captain, Medical Corps
Donald D. Johnson – Clarkston, MI; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division, (Ret. 21 y.)
James B. Morrison – San Antonio, TX; US Army, Korea, Medical Corps/187th RCT
Edmound M. Parker – Ahoskie, NC; US Army, Medical Corps/188/11th Airborne Division
Don Schweitzer – Los Angeles, CA; US Merchant Marines, WWII / US Army, Japan Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
Bill Withers – Beckley, WV; US Navy / Douglas Aircraft / singer
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Home Front – Wartime Recipes (5)
Please thank Carolyn on her website for putting these delicious meals on-line! We often discuss the food our parents and grandparents dined on, despite rationing and wartime, they ate quite well – here are some of the recipes you might want to try out.
Now – you can even download her cookbook for free by clicking Right Here!!
Recipe 131: Kale and Bean Stew
Recipe 132: Pea and Potato Stew
Recipe 133: Baked Chips with Thyme
Recipe 134: Homity Pie
Recipe 135: Vegetable Au Gratin
Recipe 136: Kale and Potato Soup
Recipe 137: Trench Stew
1940,s Irish Potato Pancakes
Recipe 138: Irish Potato Pancakes
Recipe 139: Vegetable Soup
Recipe 140: Canadian Bake
Recipe 141: Savoury Meat Pie
Recipe 142: Potatoes in Curry Sauce
Recipe 143: Padded Pudding with Mock Cream + VIDEO RECIPE
Recipe 144: Bread and Butter Pudding
Recipe 145: Wartime Mock Crab
Recipe 146: Mince in the Hole
Recipe 147: Country House Cake
Recipe 148: Mock Banana – VIDEO
Recipe 149: Pink Layer Party Cake (Mother’s Day Tribute)
Pink Party Layer Cake
Recipe 150: Plum Charlotte
Recipe 151: The Original Lord Woolton Pie
Recipe 152: Bare Cupboard Cake
Recipe 153: Summer Breakfast Dish
Recipe 154: Leek and Potato Soup
Recipe 155: Kentish Pasties
Recipe 156: My Keep the Wolf from the Door Vegetable Stew
Recipe 157: Ministry of Food Christmas Cake
Recipe 158: Blackberry Mincemeat
Recipe 159: 1940s Meal Prep – Root Vegetable Mash
Recipe 160: 1940s Meal Prep – Bean Stew
Recipe 161: Broccoli & Bean Bake
Recipe 162: Hunt Pie
Recipe 163: Oaty Biscuits
Recipe 164: Beetroot Pudding
Recipe 165: Root Vegetable Mash
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Military Humor –
Best Before end of the world
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Farewell Salutes –
Donald Bailey – Harrisburg, PA; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne, Silver Star / U.S. Congressman
Elmer “Moe” Boll – Breese, IL; US Navy, Bikini bomb tests
Manolis Glezos – Athens, GRC; Greek Resistance, WWII
Thomas Kelly – Sayville, NY; US Navy, Korea & Vietnam, (Ret. 25 y.)
Adam Lueras – Sacramento, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/188/11th Airborne Division
Bob Otto – East Bakersfield, CA; US Air Force, Korea, B-26 pilot
Gerald Page – Aberdeen, WA; US Navy, WWII, USS Harold & USS Cybelle
Adolph “Whitey” Schieve – Douglas, ND; US Army, WWII, Sgt., 28th Infantry Division
Hatley “Bud” Todee – Dallas, TX; USMC, WWII, PTO
Carl Vogelaar – Pella, IA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 pilot
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Ceylon and the SOE
SOE resistance museum
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) resulted from bringing together the UK’s three secret services for the duration of the War in order to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. Ceylon was initially a base for SOE personnel operating in South East Asia with headquarters in Kandy and a training facility at the Mount Lavinia Hotel. Operatives were inserted into Japanese occupied South East Asia via submarine.
When SEAC moved from Delhi to Kandy so did SOE Force 136 under Head of Mission Colin Mackenzie CMG. According to Ashley Jackson, writing in The British Empire and the Second World War, “Ceylon had been transformed strategically from a relative backwater, a mere operations sub-branch of the India Mission, into Force 136’s main base.”
Capt Freddie Chapman had trained Australian and New Zealand troops in guerrilla warfare at the Special Training School 101 in Singapore. They would remain in Malaya during Japanese occupation to harass the enemy as part of Force 136. Capt Chapman had already forged an alliance with the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) composed of anti-Japanese Chinese. They were armed by the British and instructed to take to the jungles in order to continue the war against the Japanese. The MCP led by the legendry Chin Peng was highly disciplined and were fed, supported and given shelter by local Chinese.
SOE Ceylon/Malaya
In early 1945 Capt Chapman was brought out to Kandy to arrange for weapons and equipment for his guerrilla fighters about half being Britons who had worked or lived in Malaya before the war, the rest Chinese. “Air supplies from Ceylon supported the 3,500 Malayans trained to harass the Japanese when the British mounted their amphibious assault late in the war. Liberators of No. 357 Squadron from Minneriya in Ceylon, for example, flew 249 sorties in June and July 1945 in support of forces in Malaya,” explains Prof Jackson.
In late 1944 Gen Roger Blaizot commander of the Forces Francaises Extrême Orient (the Far East French Expeditionary Forces) arrived in Ceylon along with French troops to establish a Free French Military Mission to the Far East. Gen Blaizot and his troops were inserted into French Indochina where they operated till the end of the War. According to Jackson “Ceylon also became an important (signals) intelligence-gathering outpost of Bletchley Park (the future Government Communications Headquarters [GCHQ]) and a regional headquarters for Special Operations Executive.”
In Operation Bunkum launched from Ceylon, agents were ferried by submarine to the Andaman Islands to report back on Japanese forces, a clandestine mission which they carried out successfully maintaining radio contact with Calcutta. In another operation, a group of Thais living in the UK volunteered for a mission for which they boarded the submarine HMS Tactician to be dropped off on the Thai coast. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) also trained Thai agents at SEAC who were ferried by HMS Tactician to carry out assaults in Phuket and Penang.
In collaboration with the Dutch and operating out of bases in Ceylon, RAF Liberators parachuted agents into Sumatra. And the US Office of Strategic Services (the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency) also operated out of Ceylon with headquarters in Kandy, training camps in Galle and Trincomalee and a supply depot in Colombo. “RAF Special Duties squadrons, usually flying long-range Liberators, were used to parachute agents and supplies into occupied territory, and most sorties were flown from Ceylon bases,” writes Jackson.
SOE Force 136
While combat experience in Ceylon was limited, the CDF benefited from training with British and Allied units rotated through Sri Lanka, especially for jungle warfare in South East Asia. Individual officers and soldiers of the CDF also had combat experience in other theaters.
In addition to service in the Cocos Islands, members of the CDF also volunteered for active duty in Burma. Writing in his Sunday Times article Forgotten campaign, forgotten veterans Sergei De Silva Ranasinghe says Brian Kirkenbeek was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant with the 2nd Battalion CLI in 1942. In January 1944 he was posted to D Company 4/5th Gurkha Rifles at Arakan where he saw action. On his return to Ceylon he was promoted and rejoined the CLI at China Bay. Ranasinghe goes on to say that some volunteered for service in Europe and experienced combat in that theater.
Three new units of the CDF were raised during the War, the Ceylon Signal Corp and the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1943, and the Royal Military Police (Ceylon) in 1944. At the end of the war the CDF which comprised 645 officers and 14,247 other ranks was demobilized. Col R.J.F. Mendis OBE ED was appointed Commander of the CDF in April 1946 and Lt Col Anton M. Muttukumaru became commander of the CLI which reverted to its peacetime strength.
The British noted that the Ceylonese Board of Ministers did everything within their power to maximize the island’s contribution to the war effort. They channeled personnel and material resources in support of the war effort.
SOE equipment
The only exception being the Lanka Sama Samaja Party which opposed the War and whose leaders were incarcerated or went underground for the duration of the War. However the civilian ministers wholeheartedly supported the war effort and there was total cooperation from the Island’s political, civil and military leadership.
In 1948 this political relationship resulted in Ceylon acquiring Dominion Status within months of India. Prof Ashley Jackson in The British Empire and the Second World War concludes that “this was a result of pressure from senior British military and civilian officials in Ceylon in favor of a significant advance towards full self-government.”
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British Military Humor –
MI5 playing ‘I spy…’
“Keep your voice down there’s a tap on the phone”
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Farewell Salutes –
Keigan Baker – Panama City, FL; US Air Force, Airman 1st Class, 24th Special Operations Wing, KIA
Michael Canonico – Chester, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. A/188/11th Airborne Division
Fletcher Derrick – Mt. Pleasant, SC; US Army, Medical Corps, 8th Artillery Div., surgeon / Army Intelligence, Order of the Palmetto (Ret.)
Fred Goodson – Gastonia, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 508/82nd A/B Division / USAR, Colonel (Ret. 39 y.)
Nancy Hookham – Eastbourne, ENG; British Navy WREN; WWII, Bletchley Park
Jesse Irvin (99) – Coushatta, LA; US Army, WWII
Harold Little – Watertown, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Elsie McCurry – Texarkana, AR; Civilian, aircraft manufacture and repair
Carolyn J. Protzmann – Franklin, NH; US Air Force / US National Guard, BGeneral (Ret.)
Clarence Rutherford – Augusta, KS; US Army Air Corps, CBI, WWII
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Clemson U. honors Ben Skardon (102)
‘Ben’ Skardon
Clemson University will award its highest honor, the Clemson Medallion, to two distinguished alumni — Professor Emeritus Beverly “Ben” Skardon and Trustee Emeritus Allen Price Wood. Skardon and Wood will be honored at a presentation ceremony in February 2020. Skardon, who lives in Clemson, is a native of Walterboro. His brother, Jimmy Skardon, still lives here.
Clemson University President James P. Clements said he is proud that the university is honoring Skardon and Wood for their leadership and contributions to the university. “Both of these men have helped shaped the university in important ways,” said Clements. “Col. Skardon made a lasting impact by teaching countless students during his career on the faculty, and students are being educated every day in buildings that Allen Wood designed. It is safe to say that our university would not be what it is today without these two outstanding leaders.”
Ben Skardon in Army dress greens, formal photo in 1938 Clemson University TAPS yearbook.
Skardon, 102, is a 1938 Clemson graduate and veteran of the U.S. Army. He fought in the Philippines in World War II, earning two Silver Stars and a Bronze Star for valor before becoming a prisoner of war when American troops were forced to surrender to the Japanese April 9, 1942. Skardon lived through one of the most infamous ordeals of World War II, the Bataan Death March, and survived for more than three years in Japanese prison camps despite becoming deathly ill.
Two fellow Clemson alumni, Henry Leitner and Otis Morgan, kept him alive by spoon-feeding him and eventually trading his gold Clemson ring — which he had managed to keep hidden — for food. It is a story now told at every Clemson ring ceremony, when Clemson seniors receive their class rings. Leitner and Morgan did not survive the war. Skardon honors them every year by walking in the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Ben Skardon, at 99, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, walks in the annual Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, accompanied by two Army medics, March 19, 2017. This was the tenth time Skardon walked in the march, and he is the only survivor of the real Bataan Death March who walks in the memorial march. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Staff Sgt. Ken Scar)
He is the only survivor of the real march who walks in the memorial march. Last year, at 101, he walked more than three miles through the desert to honor his friends. Skardon went on to serve in Korea in 1951-52 and retired from the Army at the rank of colonel in 1962. He joined the Clemson faculty in the department of English in 1964 and was named Alumni Master Teacher in 1977. He taught at Clemson until his retirement in 1983.
Skardon has received several honors from the university, including the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. In 2013 the university established the Skardon Clemson Ring Endowment, which helps fund the ring ceremony, and in 2016 the Memorial Stadium flagpole was dedicated in his honor.
On Skardon’s 100th birthday on August 11, 2017, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster presented him with the Order of the Palmetto, the state’s highest honor. In March 2018 Skardon received the Congressional Gold Medal honoring Filipino and American Veterans of World War II, which is one of the highest civilian awards in the United States.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
William Blythe – Long Beach, CA; US Navy, WWII, ETO, minesweeper / PTO, USS Ticonderoga
Bruce Brigham – Fort Knox, KY; US Army, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, Lt. Colonel, Quartermaster Corps
Alive Ferguson (99) – Williamsburg, VA; US Navy WAVES, nurse
Ruth (Baker) Gilbert – White Plains, NY; Civilian, aircraft riveter
Lyle Norquist – Thief River Falls, MN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO
Monroe Ozment – Rome, GA; USMC, PTO, Purple Heart
Nathan Rawson – Thompson, VA; US Army, WWII
Fred Reed – Gardendal, AL; US Army, WWII, Purple Heart
Mary White – Perryville, MD; Civilian nurse’s aide
Al Worden – Jackson, MI; US Air Force / NASA astronaut, West Point Alum 1955
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Jump Boots – the Airborne trademark
508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team
Distinctive as Airborne itself, so are the dark, glistening jump boots of a paratrooper. Troopers glory in their significance and only they know the secret pride when they glance down at their boots, polished like glass, and see in them the reflected valorous traditions of AIRBORNE _____ By: Cpl. Jim Ethridge
Jump boots belong to the paratroopers! They are as distinctive as the airborne itself. Others in the armed forces may wear them, but the dark glistening boots are the original trademark of the swaggering soldiers-of-the-sky.
At Fort Campbell, as with other installations were paratroopers are stationed, it is the jumpers’ delight to “fall out” each morning with starched fatigues, blocked hat and the mirrored footwear.
Corcoran Paratrooper boots
This is true of the 508th Airborne Regimental Combat team. The doughty Red Devils flash all the dash and verve that marked the paratroopers of yesterday. Very early paratroopers wore ordinary army shoes and some even used tennis shoes.
Then somebody devised a leather ankle-top boot with a big metal buckle across the top of the arch. but this proven impractical after several paratroopers came down looking like spiders trying to get the suspension line unhooked from the buckle.
Next came the boot called the Corcoran. The most beloved of the several brands of jump boots on the market. These are still the main choice of the airborne warriors.
the boots of a “Flying Tiger”
Another popular, well-appearing boot is the Skymaster, which has the same thick sole and slash heel as the Corcoran, but it doesn’t quite have the snub, upturned hard toe of today’s famed boot.
An early fad was to replace the manufacturer’s eyelets with huge brass grommets. The grommets called for the nightly ritual of removing the 72-inch leather laces and running a blitz cloth through the big eyelets – all 48 of them!
Red Devils and other paratroopers alike take pride in this hallmark of distinction. They glory in its significance. They are proud soldiers when they glance down at their boots, polished like glass, and see reflected the valorous traditions of the Airborne!
This article and pictures below are from: “The Voice of the Angels” newspaper of the 11th Airborne Division Association, Matt Underwood, Editor
paratrooper gear of the Pacific Theater
paratrooper 1
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Joseph Bettin – Milwaukee, WI; US Navy, corpsman, USS Jason
Walter Grisevich – Hartford, CT; USMC, WWII, PTO
Katheryn Hatch Klaveano – Woods Cross, UT; US Navy WAVE, WWII, flight orderly
Fernand “Bucko” Lambert – Artic Village, RI; US Army, Korea
Moises A, Navas – Germantown, MD; USMC, Iraq, Captain, 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Purple Heart, KIA
John E. Nichols – Springfield, VA; USMC; Cuba, Vietnam, Major (Ret. 44 y.)
Diego D. Pongo – Simi Valley, CA; USMC, Iraq, GSgt., 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, KIA
Wayne Smith Jr. – Fort Benning, GA; US Army, Korea, 11th Airborne Div. / Vietnam, adviser, Bronze Star, West Point alum ’49
Max von Sydow – Lund, SWE; Swedish Army, Quartermaster Corps / beloved actor
Ken Wright – Avalon Beach, AUS; RA Air Force, WWII, ETO, Flight Lt., Spitfire pilot
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188th at Desert Rock, Nevada / Manzanar Relocation Center
One last mention of the 188th Regiment/11th Airborne Division at Desert Rock – at least for now…. 🙂
I located this newsletter from the National Association of Atomic Veterans, Inc., published in 2013. It might better answer many of the questions some of the readers had from the previous posts.
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Manzanar Relocation Center – east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains
Manzanar covered an impressive 540 acres of land in Owens Valley. Yet the desert was not a welcome home for most of the camp’s internees. The arid landscape made for blistering hot summers and harsh, cold winters.
While some large-scale farming helped keep the concentration camp self-sufficient, most of the internees were forced to hold industrial jobs at the camp’s garment and mattress factories. Wages for their work often topped out at less than 20 dollars a month.
Though it was surrounded by barbed wire and a series of guard towers, Manzanar comprised a variety of buildings, including churches, shops, a hospital, a post office, and an auditorium for schooling. Men and women shared bathrooms and bathing facilities, and living assignments were frequently random, meaning that a woman might be assigned to live with a man other than her husband. All in all, mess halls and residences were crowded and sparse.
Manzanar and the other internment camps closed after World War II, but many of the internees had nowhere to go. While the economic impact of their imprisonment was devastating, the social and cultural implications were likewise detrimental.
It wasn’t until 1988 that the U.S. federal government provided redress to these citizens, and offered each survivor $20,000. In 1992, Manzanar Relocation Center was declared a National Historic Site. President Bush offered a formal apology the following year.
During the camp’s four years of existence, photographers were invited there to capture what daily life was like for the relocated citizens. Famed photographer Ansel Adams was one of just a few individuals to photograph the internees, though censorship no-doubt shaped his photos. Still, the images above provide a small glimpse at what life was like in the concentration camps.
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Military Humor – 
Click on images to enlarge.
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Farewell Salutes –
Emery Arsenault – Dennisport, CT; US Army, WWII, PTO
James Ayala (100) – Ellsworth, KS; US Army, WWII, ETO, tank gunner, 2 Bronze Stars
Lawrence Bunts – Nampa, ID; USMC, WWII, PTO
James J. Cansler – Bolivar, MO; US Army, WWII, ETO, Co. C/1/28/8th Infantry Division, KIA (Germany)
Gordon Duggan Sr. – Enfield, CT; US Coast Guard, WWII, USS Glendale
John “Red” Gartner – Omaha, NE; US Navy, WWII, CBI, submarine tender USS Beaver
William Myers – Munday, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO,23rd HQ “Ghost Army”
Joseph Pelliccio – Bayonne, NJ; US Navy, WWII, USS Iowa / Korea, USS New Jersey
Charles “John Boy” Smith – Auckland, NZ; RNZ Air Force & Navy, # 4312868
Rosalind P. Walter – NYC, NY; Civilian, Corsair aircraft riveter.
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The Last Living Paratrooper from MacArthur’s return …..
Gen. Douglas MacArthur (l.) and Richard “Dick” Adams (r.)
Richard Adams describes General MacArthur as “quite a guy.”
In commemoration of the 75th year of World War II in the Philippines, one of its heroes returned. Richard “Dick” Adams visited Corregidor once again, but this time, he did not parachute out of a C-47 plane to land on the towering trees of the Rock. The 98-year-old understandably opted to ride a ferry.
He was recently, poignantly, at the MacArthur Suite of the Manila Hotel, in a room dedicated to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who led the American and Filipino troops in liberating the country from Japanese occupation. MacArthur actually stayed in that suite for six years, as Manila Hotel’s honorary general manager.
It was a time of fear across the country as Japanese forces ravaged Manila and the countryside. People clung to MacArthur’s words, “I shall return,” which he said after he was forced to abandon the Philippine island fortress of Corregidor under orders from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt in March 1942. Left behind at Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsula were 90,000 American and Filipino soldiers, who, lacking food, supplies, and support, would soon succumb to the Japanese offensive.
‘Dick’ Adams
It was at this battered battleground that Adams, as a young paratrooper assigned to the HQ Company 3rd Bn in an 81 mm mortar platoon, arrived on February 16, 1945. He is the last surviving paratrooper of the group and he shares his memories of the wartime experience.
What he remembers the most about his Corregidor landing is the wind. “It was a beautiful day when we came in at about a thousand feet above the water and then the island came up 500 feet so we jumped in about four to five hundred feet,” he says. “And the wind was a little too hard so they dropped it down and once they came after us we were pretty close to the ground.”
The landing itself was over pretty quickly, but the wind blew him toward a cliff and not the golf course that he was aiming for. Luckily, he says, he landed on a tree and that kept him from going down further.
He thinks something else saved him that day. “I wear a Miraculous Medal that my mother gave me. The second day after my jump, I noticed that the medal was gone, it was torn off,” he says. “About a week after we went to Corregidor, we went up to the hill and there were so many flies. You couldn’t open a can and put it in your mouth. The flies were terrible because the battlefield was kind of a mess that encourages the flies. I went back down to the jump field to get a parachute to protect me from the flies and came back towards the hill. It came out of my hands and when I picked it up, I saw it. There was my medal, in the middle of the field. So that was kind of a Miraculous Medal.”
PT-32, one of 4 boats used in the escape.
Adams spent a good part of the first day getting injured troopers to the first aid station. He was in Corregidor until early March, when General MacArthur returned. He was part of the border patrol, spending most of his time on the hills and further down, he recalls.
Although a young recruit at the time, having joined the troops only a few months prior to his assignment, he understood the significance of that tiny island. “It was kind of a guard in Manila Bay. It has a kind of control on any ship that came in through there. It was mainly a field with a fortress where they control it,” he shares. “Also, it was the last place where the phrase ‘I shall return’ became significant because that’s where General MacArthur left from going to Australia and then he came back. It was important in a sense that it controls the Manila Bay, but it is also significant just because it was the last place that the Americans surrendered from.”
“It was a pretty scary place,” he says of wartime Philippines. “I joined a few months earlier, so I was kind of new in the game at that time. We were in Mindoro and I ended up in the hospital. After Corregidor, we ran in Negros, so we got around a little bit. We spent most of our time up in the woods.”
He has vivid memories of MacArthur. “We did meet once in a while. I was at the dock when he came in and, as a matter of fact, the first time I was back in Corregidor I was in the museum and I found a picture of myself that was standing on the dock where he and I met. So, I welcomed him, but I don’t think he knows. He was quite a guy.”
After the Negros campaign and occupation duty in Japan, Adams returned home and joined the National Guard as operations sergeant in the 165th Infantry and left 20 years after as a master sergeant. He obtained a law degree from St. John University and is retired from General Motors. He has two daughters, one of whom is an Air Force Captain.
Pictures are courtesy of Manila Hotel
His first trip back to Corregidor was in 2012 and he described it as an emotional trip. “I like going back to Corregidor. It’s really an honor to be here. It’s a little embarrassing when there are people standing around taking pictures—the people you should be taking pictures of, they are not here. Some might be still in Corregidor. My whole climb to fame is that I was there and I’m still here,” he says.
Of his visit, he shares, “I’m doing these to honor those people, the Filipinos and Americans that defended the island and also those who on the 16th came back to Corregidor. I think we are honoring those not only who came back on the 16th but everyone who was left.”
By : esqiremag.com | Feb 18, 2020
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor –
“Yes, sailor, we docked 2 days ago!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Margaret Adamchak – Bridgeport, CT; Civilian, WWII, Naval Dept. employee
John Dennis – Tucson, AZ; US Navy, WWII, radar, USS Rochambeau
Paul H. Gebser – San Diego, CA; US Navy, WWII, Machinist’s Mate 1st Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
John Henry – Lugarno, AUS; RA Air Force, WWII, pilot instructor
Benjamin Meo – Haddon Heights, NJ; USMC, WWII
Carl Overcash – Rowan County, NC; US Army, WWII, PTO
Augustin Polasek – MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, bomber pilot, Colonel (Ret.)
Andrew Schmitz – Richmond, VA; US Navy, WWII, fireman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Donald Stratton – Red Cloud, NE; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Arizona survivor / USS Stack / author, “All the Gallant Men”
Charles Wion – La Junta, CO; US Navy, WWII, Signalman
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One Woman’s Contribution – Elaine Ooley
Happy birthday, Elaine! Weldon Spring woman turns 106
“I don’t want to grow old. So I don’t act like I’m old. I refuse to do that,” Elaine Ooely said
WELDON SPRING, Mo. — We want to wish a happy birthday to Elaine Ooley from Weldon Spring. She recently turned 106 !!
Elaine Ooley is the definition of resilient. Here’s a short version of her amazing life story. She weighed just one pound when she was born and wasn’t expected to survive.
When she was just 4 years old, she survived the 1918 influenza pandemic in America. She went on to graduate high school during the Great Depression. And after that, she served as an aircraft dispatcher in the women’s Army Corps.
Air Force veteran Elaine Ooley, looks up toward a bomb addressed to Hitler, and asked for a picture of it, inside of the World War II B-17 bomber on display at the Greater Kankakee Airport during the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom tour. Ooley, was an aircraft dispatcher for B-17 planes stationed at the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1944.
She said living long is thanks to good genes and an even better attitude.
“My long life is due to the fact that I’m positive in my attitude,” she said. “I don’t want to give up. I don’t want to grow old. So, I don’t act like I’m old. I refuse to do that. And I keep up with all the news so I can converse and am a people person. So, I believe in keeping busy, not feeling sorry for yourself, not worrying about your condition, cope with it, do what you can, and go.”
She didn’t have children but has tons of friends who all lined up to wish her happy birthday at the Breeze Park Senior Living Community in Weldon Spring. She calls the people at Breeze Park her family.
Ms. Ooley takes shelter in a B-25 to get out of the rain on her 103rd Birthday.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor – HOME FRONT “Saturday Evening Post” style
“WHAT THE HECK DID WE DO EVERY NIGHT BEFORE THE WAR?”
“Why so polite all of a sudden? Are you hearing Peace rumors?”
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Farewell Salutes –
Ena Andrews – Richamond, CA; Civilian, WWII, Shipyard welder
Robert Griffith – Berwyn, IL; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Wilma Gregory – MN; US Army WAC, WWII, nurse
James “Hollie” Hollingsworth – Hephzibah, GA; USMC, Vietnam, !st Sgt. (Ret.)
Mary Horne – Fall River, MA; Civilian, Newport Naval Base, WWII
Katherine Johnson (101) – Civilian, NASA, Mathematician rocket trajectory expert
Betty Romesberg – Columbus, OH; US Army WAC; WWII, PTO, nurse
Peggy Simmons – Jonesville, NC; FBI, WWII
Morella Staggs – Gardenea, CA; US Coast Guard SPARS, WWII, radio
Edmund Torry – NYC, NY; USMC, 2nd Marine Division
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Restoring WWII with accuracy
TSF BP 382P HQ
Jeep of the Military Police, Theater Service Forces with complete unit markings. This photograph is most likely a post-war photograph taken during occupation duty.
I’ve created this post to help out a reader now restoring an authentic WWII 1942 Ford GPW. I needed help myself – Matt Underwood, past Editor of “The Voice of the Angels” newspaper of the 11th Airborne Division Association – and I’m proud to say – my friend, came to my rescue.
The only drawback to the Army Manual was that Airborne Divisions had not really developed at the time the text of this book was written, and therefore, the examples of actual vehicle markings on jeeps, etc., of Airborne Divisions are not among the samples/examples in the manual itself. Armies, Corps, and Infantry Divisions, Armored Divisions, and Cavalry Divisions are covered, and all smaller units, but no Airborne Divisions. Everything else about Airborne jeeps are the same as the rest of the Army, with the exception of distinguishing between, say, the 11th Armored Division and 11th Airborne Division. Other than being in two different theaters of war, they are almost the same.
The world of military vehicles, especially American WWII stuff, is a growing field, as old junkers are discovered in barns, landfills, junkyards, and out in the woods, and collectors are buying them and restoring them. When they get their special treasure all completed, they want total accuracy in these unique unit markings to add the final tough of authenticity. So the number of websites featuring vehicle markings has grown rapidly over the past 10 years.
28-103E HQ-4
A jeep from the 103rd Engineer Combat Battalion, 28th Infantry Division photographed on a bridge somewhere in Europe. The unit bumper markings are applied according to regulations and designate the 4th vehicle of the Headquarters of 103rd Engineers, 28th Infantry Division. The windshield carries the addition marking “T4 Cole” in white.
http://www.classicjeeps.co.uk/american-vehicle-markings/
https://blog.kaiserwillys.com/military-jeep-markings
http://www.lonesentry.com/panzer/jeep-markings.html
http://www.kingtigerebooks.co.uk/p/world-war-ii.html
Now back to the last part of the problem. The 11th Airborne Division, like other Airborne Divisions from 1942 to 1944, followed the Army’s Table of Organization & Equipment No. 71, dated 17 Feb 1942. The A/B units in Europe and the States updated this TO&E in Dec 44, but not the 11th or 503rd…not till the early summer of ’45. So almost all of the time the 11th was in combat, it had the same set-up for everything that it always had—at least on paper. I do have a substitute source for part of the data, however, and here’s what I believe your reader will need to know.
11th A/B Div. repairs a truck in Japan
I think that for most of the War, MOST of the 11th Airborne’s jeeps and trucks bore vehicle markings like your sepia-colored photo of the jeep from the 188th. Its bumper markings are important in solving this puzzle:
11AB..188-I…………SV8 = 11th Airborne, 188th Infantry, Service Company, 8th Vehicle
No one unit in a WWII airborne division would have such a high number of jeeps unless they were all numbered in a regiment-wide motor pool.
I have some proof that the 511th—being a Parachute Infantry Regiment—had probably all of its vehicles marked for its Service Company, as the motor pool for the whole regiment, which had 3 Parachute Inf. Battalions. It is probable that the 187th and 188th, being Glider Infantry Regiments with only 2 Glider Inf. Battalions each, probably also had all its vehicles marked for its respective Service Cos., which had charge of the motor pool for the whole regiment.
The vehicle allowance for the motor pool of the 511th PIR, seems to TOTAL out as follows: (1) Sedan; (2) Ambulances; (13) 1/4-ton Trucks (which are what Jeeps were usually referred to in official tables); (15) 3/4-ton Trucks; (16) 2-1/2 ton Trucks; and (14) 1-ton Trailers. These totals are for the whole Regiment, but are internally divided between the Service Company’s “HQ Co. Squad”, its “1st Bn. Squad” and 2nd & 3rd Bn. Squads as well, and its own “Transportation Platoon”—-which would be maybe what we would think of as a vehicle “reserve”, or were the vehicles under current repair. It probably allowed a flexibility that couldn’t be had otherwise. What this tells me is that when Col. Haugen needed his staff car, his adjutant called the “motor pool” (the Service Company’s Transportation Platoon) and said “Bring around the Colonel’s staff car.” Then the Colonel’s driver, a NCO from the Transportation Platoon’s “HQ Co. Squad” pulled his staff car up to the Colonel’s CP (command post) and waited. Same with the Colonel’s jeep, etc. When Lt.Col. John Strong, CO of 3rd Bn., needed his jeep, he or his adjutant called up the motor pool and ordered his jeep—-then a driver from the Transp. Platoon’s “3rd Bn. Squad” brought his jeep to Lt.Col. Strong’s CP and waited. When I say “his jeep” it was likely the same one every time, but could be a substitute on any given occasion if the main jeep was getting repaired or cleaned, etc. The pooling of all vehicles into the Service Company may have simply been the best idea to allow flexibility whenever a vehicle was needed on short notice.
From late 1940 to February 1945, markings were to be made in blue-drab. This type of color scheme would prevent enemy intelligence from gathering and identifying military markings as the two colors were hard to distinguish from one another when viewed in black and white photographs. The official color of these markings was changed to flat white in February 1945, but the reserves of blue-drab paint were used until exhausted.
In other words, ALL the jeeps and other vehicles would have Service Co. marks on the bumpers, regardless of who in the Regiment was using them. Therefore, the 511th would have a fleet of jeeps marked SV1 through SV13. I am GUESSING (for now) that the 187th and 188th had similar systems, which would explain your photo of a 188th jeep marked SV8. I am guessing that if the system holds, the 188th was only allotted 9 jeeps total.
Anyway, I will get back to you on that.
As to 11th Division HQ, I’m not sure yet as to its markings. Probably they had their own vehicles, but unsure as yet. If so, Gen. Swing’s jeep would probably have been bumper marked like this:
11ABX………………..HQ1 = 11th Airborne Division, HQ Company, 1st Vehicle
As always, these are 3″ tall letters, and the center of the bumper may or may not have a star painted on—it is the US star for all vehicles, found all over most other big surfaces. The bumpers often had them to start with, and as paint wore off and was repainted, sometimes the bumper stars were skipped, leading to the frequent blank space in the center where a star once was.
MATTHEW UNDERWOOD
Bookbinder/Conservator, Boyce Centennial Library,
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary;
Editor Emeritus, Voice of the Angels,
11th Airborne Division Association
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The 11th Airborne uniform examples
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Click on images to enlarge.
Military Humor –
Uuh… guys…?
11th A/B Div. repairs a truck in Japan
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Farewell Salutes –
Dominic “Mickey” Bria – Smithers, SC; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT ‘Rakkasans’
William Conklin – Stony Point, NY; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
George D’Arcy – Liverpool, ENG; British Army, WWII, ETO, CBI & Africa, 2/South Lancashire Regiment
Homer Godair – Griffithville, AR; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Scott Humbird – Brentwood, CA; US Army, WWII, PTO, Malaria Control Unit
Charles Pittman Sr. – Pensacola, FL; USMC, Vietnam, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Lt.General (Ret. 40 y.)
William Sartain – Mineral Wells, TX; US Merchant Marines, WWII, PTO
Mary Sweeney – Nanticoke, PA; US Army Air Corps WAC; WWII, Medical/Surgical Tech.
William Taylor – Grant, AL; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT “Rakkasans’
William Whiteman – Hood River, OR; US Navy, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Lt. Commander (Ret. 27 y.)
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Home Front / Bomb Testing / part two
On 18 December 1950, President Harry S. Truman gave his approval to use a portion of the U.S. Air Force’s Las Vegas Bombing and Gunnery Range in southeastern Nevada for atomic tests. Construction of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), originally known as the Nevada Proving Ground (NPG), began in January 1951. Construction of what became known as Camp Desert Rock did not start until September 1951. The camp was named for Exercise Desert Rock, a series of atmospheric nuclear tests first conducted at NTS in 1951. This site included Yucca and Frenchman Flats, Paiute and Rainer Mesas, and the Camp Desert Rock area, which was used by the Sixth Army in the 1950’s to house troops participating in atmospheric tests at the site.
Designed as a military support facility for NTS, Camp Desert Rock began as a temporary camp originally part of NPG. It was located twenty-three miles west of Indian Springs, Nevada, in Nye County on Highway 95 and assigned to Sixth Army effective 12 September 1951. Headquarters, III Corps, Sixth Army, chose an area just outside NTS about two miles southwest of the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Camp Mercury. The site, in the center of Mercury Valley, was bordered by the Spring Mountains and the Spotted Range towards the north and east and the Specter Range to the west. The Army acquired 23,058 acres for Camp Desert Rock from the Department of the Interior on 5 September 1951.
The Army established Camp Desert Rock to stage and house troops involved in training exercises associated with nuclear weapons testing by the AEC. Personnel from all four services were deployed to observe the detonations from trenches, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. After the completion of exercises, the camp adhered to radiological safety measures throughout its use. In 1951, the Army, working closely with the AEC, carried out the Desert Rock exercises to “dispel much of the fear and uncertainty surrounding atomic radiation and the effects of gamma and x-rays.”
188th/11th Airborne Division at Desert Rock
The initial construction for Camp Desert Rock was accomplished by the 231st Engineer Combat Battalion, a North Dakota Army National Guard unit mobilized in September 1950 for the Korean War and based out of Fort Lewis, Washington. The battalion’s mission was to establish, build, and maintain the camp, and construct field fortifications at the atomic test sites. The 90th Engineer Water Supply Company handled the camp’s water supply, to include running water from a 190,000 gallon water tank, and several permanent type latrines with showers, flush toilets, and wash bowls. Temporary sumps for garbage disposal were built by the 597th Engineer Light Equipment Company.
Within the first six months of existence, Camp Desert Rock had grown from a few tents to a relatively comfortable, semi-permanent tent camp with many modern amenities. It had two permanent buildings for mess halls, each of which could accommodate 500 soldiers, electricity to all parts of the camp from nearby AEC Camp Mercury, and telephone, telegraph, and teletype facilities. A sewage system ran throughout the permanent part of the camp. In addition, the camp featured a permanent training auditorium with seating for 400, a post exchange housed in a Quonset hut, and framed and floored tents to house soldiers.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Shout Out >>>>
Major White walks passed some of the 140,000 Valentine cards he received.
Those of you who were kind enough to send Major White, 104-year old veteran and oldest living U.S. Marine, a Valentines card – here is the story and end result!!
https://www.kcra.com/article/feeling-the-love-stockton-vet-gets-140k-valentines-day-cards/30936477#
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Military Humor –
“Now is when we need a Plan B”
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Cox Jr. – Guston, KY; US Army, WWII, ETO
Armando Groccia – Providence, RI; US Army, WWII
Last Flight
Ned Johnson – Vincennes, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Brandon T. Kimball – Central Point, OR; US Army, Afghanistan, Spc., 3/10/10/10th mountain Division, KIA
Frank Losonsky – Detroit, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, 23rd Fighter Group/14th Air Force “Flying Tigers”, pilot
Matthew Morgan – Paladine, IL; US Army, SSgt., dive instructor
Glenn Neal – Konawa, OK; US Army, WWII, PTO
John “Donnie” Pullo Jr. – Boston, MA; US Army, WWII, ETO,Sgt., 82nd Airborne Division
Winsbury “Jim” Robinson – Kohimarama, NZ; RNZ Air Force / RAF # 413125, WWII, 485th Squadron, Spitfire pilot
Irvin Sullivan – Wichita, KS; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Lt. Commander, PBY Squadron VP 12 “Black Cat Raiders”, pilot-navigator
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